The effect of intrauterine injection of granulocyte stimulating factor (G-CSF) on IUI success rate

IUI or injection of washed sperm into the uterine cavity is one of the assisted reproductive techniques that has been widely used in the treatment of infertility. This study was performed with aim to evaluate the effect of intrauterine injection of granulocyte stimulating factor (G-CSF) on the success rate of IUI in patients referred to the infertility center of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences.

This clinical trial study was performed in 2019-2020 on 100 women with primary infertility referred to the Infertility Center of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences for IUI. The subjects were randomly divided into intervention and control groups each with 50 women. To stimulate ovulation for the women in two groups, clomiphene citrate was administered from the third to the fifth day of menstruation at a dose of 50-100 mg daily for five days and gonadotropin ampoules were administered with dose 150 mg at days 7 and 9 and after reaching to at least one follicle with 20 ml diameter, HCG was injected for the final maturation of the oocyte. In the intervention group, in addition to previous procedures on the day of HCG injection, 100 micrograms of G-CSF was injected intrauterine with IUI catheter, and then IUI was performed 36 hours later. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS (version 25). P<0.05 was considered significant.

The success rate of IUI based on βHCG test was 20% in the case group and 4% in the control group, which showed a statistically significant difference in the success rate of pregnancy (p=0.028).

The results of the present study showed that G-CSF administration improves the chance of pregnancy compared to no treatment.